Weekly Report - 06 December 2018 (WR-18-48)

MEXICO: López Obrador swings into action

The long wait is over.Andrés Manuel López Obrador was sworn in as Mexico’s 58th president on 1 December. After enduring one of the world’s most protracted transition periods, López Obrador seemed to want to make up for lost time, issuing daily reports on progress being made to deliver his campaign promises. The presidential plane is up for sale; presidential pensions have gone; a truth commission is up and running to get to the bottom of the infamous abduction of 43 trainee teachers in 2014. But López Obrador’s salary cut has already seen thousands of public sector officials, especially in the judiciary, take legal action, while his announcement that private companies would have three years to achieve results in oil exploration, or no new contracts would be offered, increased uncertainty about his energy policy.